Firefighters save homes off SR125; flames feet away

SPRING VALLEY  Firefighters made an aggressive ground and aerial attack that saved homes within feet of flames from a brush fire Thursday off state Route 125 near Jamacha Road.

The fire was reported in a grassy area off the freeway about 3:05 p.m. Crews had the spread of flames stopped about an hour later, Cal Fire Capt. Kendal Bortisser said.

Crews from Heartland and Chula Vista also responded. Water drops were made from the Sheriff Department's Copter 12.

The flames spread into the backyards of about five homes on Elketon Boulevard, but firefighters saved the homes. A metal shed was destroyed, along with a pig pen. Four pigs died, Bortisser said.

Deputies evacuated 12 homes, a sheriff's official said.

School staff walked 50 to 75 students from Avondale Elementary School — located less than a block away from the fire — to nearby Mount Miguel High School for safety. Those students were the only ones left on the elementary school campus, there for an after-school program that runs until 6 p.m., said Brian Marshall, La Mesa-Spring Valley School District superintendent.

The Jamacha Road off-ramp from Route 125 was shut down while crews battled the fire, which charred about 2 acres.

The cause of the blaze is under investigation, but it broke out in an area that has several homeless camps, Bortisser said.